GENEVA--The Bonaire Human Rights Organization (BHRO), represented by James Finies and Davika Bissessar, presented concerns about the situation in Bonaire, Saba, and St. Eustatius during the 78th Session of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) in Geneva on 16โ17 September 2025.
According to BHRO, this was the first time a human rights organization from the islands directly participated in a UN treaty body review of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The group submitted documentation and made oral statements addressing what it described as systemic discrimination, structural poverty, lack of democratic representation, and insufficient cultural recognition in the Caribbean Netherlands.
During the session, the Committee asked the Dutch delegation about issues raised by BHRO, including the implementation of health care policies such as euthanasia without what the organization described as cultural adaptation or local consultation. The Chair of the Committee, Ambassador Preeti Saran of India, posed a question on how the Dutch government ensures that health care laws applied in the islands respect cultural and religious freedoms.
Specifically: โ โฆ.๐ข ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ. ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ'๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ฃ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด. ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด, ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ, ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ข๐ธ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข๐ด ๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ป๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฆ๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ข, ๐ฆ๐ต๐ค., ๐ช๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ฑ๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ท๐ช๐ฐ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ง๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ, ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง-๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ, ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ. ๐๐ฐ ๐ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐บ, ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ต ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ข๐ธ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ฃ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด?"
BHRO noted that the Dutch delegation did not provide a substantive response to this question during the session. The organization interprets this as highlighting the gap between policy implementation and the lived realities of people on the islands. "Despite a 10-minute recess and online support from ministries in The Hague, the Dutch representatives were unable to respondโmarking a rare moment of silence and visible confusion in an otherwise tightly controlled Dutch state presentation," the BHRO said.
For BHRO, participation in the hearing marked an important opportunity to bring local perspectives to an international platform. The organization stated that it will continue to raise concerns related to self-determination, non-discrimination, and socio-economic rights, with the aim of ensuring that policies affecting Bonaire, Saba, and St. Eustatius are shaped with greater attention to local input and cultural considerations.
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https://tribune-site.webflow.io//articles/bhro-challenges-the-dutch-at-un-human-rights-committee
